Nutritional yeast is a highly nutritious vegan food product with many potential health benefits. With it, you can easily add extra protein, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants to meals. It's commonly used as a vegan cheese sauce flavoring, as well as a topping for soups and salads. Nutritional yeast can add tasty umami flavor to a variety of dishes. It works for adding depth of flavor to soups, pastas, potatoes, kale chips, and even popcorn..